heavy books

Christian Tunge (b. 1989) is a Norwegian artist, publisher and founder of Heavy Books, where he not only publishes his own work, but also do books in collaboration with other art photographers.

CHRISTIAN TUNGE

Tunge is originally from the western coastal town of Stavanger, but now lives and works in Oslo. He holds a BFA in Photography from the Art Academy in Gothenburg and has also studied at Oslo Art Photography School. In 2014 Tunge founded Heavy Books - an artist run collaborative projects that does books, editions and exhibitions.

The catalogue contains mostly other artists that he collaborates closely with, but also some of his own titles. Since 2014, Heavy Books has published different 16 titles and attended art book fairs in Tokyo, Los Angeles and New York.

POLYMORPHOUS MAGICAL SUBSTANCE BY ESPEN GLEDITCH (2017)

“The photo book is no longer a format for showing a career in retrospect”, Tunge says in an interview, "The book is an art piece by itself, in the same way as a sculpture, a painting or a photographic print.” For him the books he publishes, which usually are in editions of no more than 100 copies each, always have something special about them. Whether it's a single page that has another size or printed with a special ink/paper, the limited edition makes these effects possible. The books are also always signed and numbered, as you would do with other art editions.

In addition, Christian Tunge is currently running MELK gallery in Oslo (together with Behzad Farazollahi and Bjarne Bare), and is of 2017 one of the organisers behind Fotobokfestival Oslo (Oslo Photo Book Festival).